North Georgia Fishing Report: Feb. 10, 2014

Good luck to everyone with your storm preparations. Be safe so that you, your vehicle, and your fishing friends will be ready for a great spring on the region’s lakes and streams.

Brook trout caught on Feb. 8 in Toccoa Delayed Harvest Stream.

Currently, it’s still a slow time of the year for north Georgia fishing. However, the last two weekends provided some great windows of opportunity for those of us taking advantage of the milder periods. This up-and-down weather trend should continue for the next 3-4 weeks as we try to finish up winter. At least the afternoons are now longer and the sun’s rays can really make a difference to water temperatures. The fishing should start getting better as the winter days pass and spring finally arrives. Read carefully and you might find a gold nugget or two hidden in this brief report.

I got a Dukes Creek walk on today about 8:45 AM and was the last person to fill up the five person slots for the small game hunt that was going on. I hung around and talked with a couple of guys I knew streamside until about 9:30 before finally gearing up and hitting the water at 10 AM. Didn’t get a water temperature but it was cold and soaked through the waders even with a couple of pairs of socks and hand warmers in the boot. The two guys I spoke with are pretty good fisherman and reported a decent bite with a few fish hooked up until 10 AM. I stayed and fished with the two guys I met streamside most of the day and we had a good time with the usual fishing buddy banter. Due to the hunt, we were limited to section one but there were definitely good numbers of fish to be had, even in the shallower nooks and crannies many people don’t fish very often. I fished a long 12-14 ft leader on a floating line sans indicator all day due to the relatively low flow. I changed splitshot depending on the pool’s depth and micromanaged leader length along the same lines. The fish were definitely hungry today perhaps due to the warming water. Fly selection didn’t seem to matter much as just about everything we tried caught a fish. However, a size 8 olive wooly bugger did work for me today as all of my bigger fish came on it. However at the same time one of the guys hooked quite a few fish in short order out of a usually tough pool on a small red zebra midge! Moral of the story is that the terminal tackle played a much more important factor in our success than anything else!”

Sincerely,

College Boy

Smith Delayed Harvest Report

Dredger hit Smith DH for a few hours on Sunday afternoon before the Super (Subpar) Bowl. While the fishing was great in the 64 degree weather, with only a long sleeve shirt and no jacket, dredger’s catching was spotty. Fish seemed to be podded up in the deeper pools and runs. He managed a small handful of rainbows and a lone, lean brown on an olive leech, dead-drifted deep.

Open Door

North metro flyfishing wannabe’s should take up Steve on his kind offers and tips.

The WRD trucks have been there, done that. The rest is now up to you. Of course, the winter standard is to fish deep and slow. Visitors to the Amicalola, Smith or Toccoa might also find some finned critters with light spots on a dark background. Dredger and Sautee found one among the rainbows they caught, despite forty degree water, on the Toccoa DH on Feb. 8. The river was way up (about 550 cfs), but the duo stayed close to the bank and to each other to fish a couple spots safely. Some float tubers and kayak anglers also tried their luck as they drifted through the DH reach.

The duo also hit the Toccoa tailwater later that afternoon on an early caddis recon, but the catching was much slower there. No bugs were seen, but they should show up with the next big warming trend, so get ready! (VIDEO)

Partner Kudos for Fish Habitat!

Eagle Scouts

Eagle Scout candidate Sully Long recently completed a service project replacing brush at an aging fish attractor site located adjacent to the Kellogg Creek boat ramp on Lake Allatoona. Sully is a member of Kennesaw Boy Scout Troop 002. He and a work crew of family and friends collected 75 Christmas trees from the local community and attached those trees to existing anchor points at the site. Rising water levels this spring will inundated the trees, providing new habitat for species like crappie, bass, bream, and catfish. The fish attractor site is marked with signage and is within casting distance of the bank. We congratulate Sully on his hard work to improve fishing opportunities for Allatoona anglers! Find more information about fishing Allatoona and the fish attractor program at: http://www.georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Allatoona.

Most folks north of us are dreaming about fishing when their favorite waters thaw in a few months, while we have consistent windows of opportunity in between the winter storms to wet a line. Watch the weather , get past this coming storm safely and find yourself a “winter window” in the weeks ahead to cure your cabin fever. Good luck.